GE Power Pro X500 Review

[rating:4.5/5]

I make it a point to let readers know that I am by no means a professional photographer (though with all these camera reviews I’m getting closer), but I do know what I like in a camera as a consumer. One thing that I’ve always liked are “bridge cameras” – so called because they bridge the gap between simple point and shoot models, and more advanced SLR models. Bridge cameras have a very small image sensor that allows their single lens to take on a multitude of functions (from macro to zoom), and while the GE Power Pro X500 might just be the most inexpensive bridge camera I’ve ever seen, its lens doesn’t skimp at all.

For starters, the Power Pro X500 sports a very impressive 16 megapixel sensor. The normal range for entry level cameras of this type is a 10-14 MP sensor, so that right there gives it a leg up on the competition. The camera’s lens can also hit a nice 15x optical zoom – it also has an additional 6x digital zoom, but I’ve gone over my dislike for digital zooms enough in the past. Most bridge cameras fall into the category of “super zoom” though, so that’s a fairly average zoom length.

In order to keep the cost down for the consumer (and while we’ll get to the price later, I’ll say that this camera is cheap) GE decided to forgo a rechargeable battery of any kind and make this camera run on four AA batteries. This is a bit of a double edged sword however, as the four batteries add a lot of weight (but it does seem to balance out the weight of the lens nicely), and you can only get about 300 pictures with standard AA batteries (supposedly you can get up to 500 with NiMH AA batteries though). While this won’t be an issue to the casual camera user, someone that takes a lot of pictures will find their operating costs to rise pretty quickly.

One thing that the Power Pro X500 has that most bridge cameras does not, is an optical view finder, for those times when you’re trying to take pictures on a bright day. It’s a great addition, and honestly it’s almost needed when dealing with the LCD screen on the back. It’s a 2.7 inch LCD, but it’s not the best quality at all – there were plenty of times I looked at a picture on the screen and thought I ruined a shot, only to see it look great on my PC monitor. To be fair, for such a low cost camera, I’m sure some concessions had to be made; the batteries were one, and the screen quality is definitely another.

Along with a nice lens and a good image sensor, the Power Pro X500 is packed with some other nice features. One is the “on the fly” HRD (High Dynamic Range) adjustment. After you take a picture, you can go into the the menu and hit the HDR adjust option, and it will adjust the colors, making it brighter and more vivid. Another nice little feature is the face and smile detection mode, where the camera won’t take a picture until it sees a smile. It might be kinda cheesy, but it’s fun with the family. The X500 can also take movies, but like most cameras that take movies, you won’t be using that feature all that much. While it’s not that the movies look bad (although for HD movies, they don’t look very HD), there are better things you could be using this camera for.

The last feature I want to hit on is the “Panorama Mode”, which was one of my favorite things to mess with. Basically you turn the mode on, and take a picture at the farthest left edge of what you cant to capture. After that first picture is taken, you keep moving slightly to the right while lining up cross hairs and snapping pictures as you do. The camera’s on-board software then splices the individual pictures together making one seamless photo. Be careful not to get any “moving” areas with this though – the one I did had a ghost car because I wasn’t paying attention, but it looked cool none the less.

At the end of the day, the GE Power Pro X500 is a solid camera that packs amazing performance for the price. It’s obviously not going to compete with $1000 SLR cameras, but that’s not what it’s meant to do. While it does have a few failings, for the money it really can’t be beat. As I said earlier though, you do need to figure the cost of batteries in to the mix, but if you’re not taking hundreds of pictures a day it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

I give the GE Power Pro X500 a final score of four and a half stars out of five.

Pros:

6 MP for the low price is an extremely good deal

The lens works great for zooms, wide angles, and even macro images

The panorama mode works really great (as long as you do it right)

Cons:

Uses four AA batteries instead of a rechargeable battery

The clarity of the LCD screen leaves a lot to be desired

I’m sure this is just a draw-back of using AA batteries, but there’s no hot shoe.

18 Comments

If you don’t have a user manual and allot of batterys you are screwed, way too many options , very hard to figure out and goes through batterys like crazy. never buy another, have to be a computer genues to figure it out.

I just got this camera and I love it, but each time I download my pics to my computer it saves an additional copy of each, which takes up twice as much space on the memory card and I have to go through and delete every other file. Is there a way to eliminate this duplication process?

I am simply amazed at all the features of this camera. For $155 I gotthe camera, 8GB SDHC Memory Card(SanDisk is the recommended brand)and asmall Zeikos Case which is waterproof/shock resistant. This is theperfect size for travel.

Background on why I selected this camera:

I am going to be living abroad for a few months on an internshipand I wanted a compact camera with powerful Optical Zoom andMegapixles. I read reviews and countless buying guides. I originallybought the Vivtar T328 but as soon as I got it the touch screen stoppedworking so I returned it.

Just by chance I came upon this GE X500 model. It is built on aFuji S series camera(it really looks and feels like a Fuji) for afraction of the cost. Don't let the GE/General Imaging brand name foolyou. The founders of General Imagining retired from Minolta(which isnow Sony) and Fuji. This goes to show you that they mean business forthis price point.

Professional Features:

I like to be able to take photos in automatic modes for when Idon't have time to plan my photo shoot. But when I have a day to filmthe big airplanes landing at San Francisco International Airport then Ilike to be able to set the manual modes.

This camera allows me to set aperture and Shutter Priority as wellas manual White Balance. I also like being able to set the ISOSettings.

Furthermore I love the 27mm wide angle zoom with 15x Optical Zoom.Having only 5x of Digital Zoom says a lot of how professional thiscamera is. The more optical zoom you can get the better. I tried takingphotos and let me tell you they turn out to be so professional justlike the expensive Canons.

I also like the different scene modes, portrait, panorama, OpticalImage Stabilization and both an electronic viewfinder and an LCD screenwith automatic brightness control. I like that you can see the menufunctions in the Electronic View Finder.

The ArcSoft looks like a good software and I will test that out. Irecommend that you try it out before going on to the more advancedAdobe Photoshop. Be creative.

In addition I like that I can record movies while I don't need anHD recorder as I have a camcorder its a nice way to record short filmsof the photos I took. This does not replace your separate camcorder.For avid videographers stick to a movie camera. A lot of the timepeople want high quality video from an all in one camera. As long as Ican use the optical zoom for shooting video that is enough.

I also like that the camera comes with a decent strap/lens cap. Ihighly recommend that you buy an 8GB SDHC San Disk Class 4+ MemoryCard, Zeikos small carrying case as well as 4 AA rechargeable batterswith a charger.

I would much rather have AA Batteries over a rechargeable Lion battery as after that goes you have to spend $50+ for a new one.

Setup:

Setup was easy. I first turned on the camera and set the date andtime. Having the World Time feature with a home and travel setting wasanother important feature that I want.

After setting up the date please don't forget to format the SD Cardand do this everytime you download the photos to your computer or get anew SD Card as it will optimize the saving to the card.

If you need more space on the card lower the resolution to 10 Megapixles.

Overall I cannot believe the quality and the price of this camera.When I saw the Fuji S camera today and tested it out I was amazed athow the GE Camera is so similar for the fraction of the cost. The FujiCamera was $270 vs $155 for everything.

Who is this camera good for:

This Bridge Camera is good for those who don't want the extraweight of the DSLR and its interchangeable lenses. With airlinescharging a lot for extra baggage this camera can be the 2nd includedcarry on item as you are allowed one backpack and one personal item.

If you want the professional features of a DSLR with the ease of a Point and Shoot Camera this is your best choice.

For a novice who wants the manual functions this camera is good foryou too. Don't spend the $100 now for a basic point and shoot buy thisbridge camera and you will be happy for years to come. Its light anddurable.

I agree with the review. I am using Rayovac rechargable batteries with a USB charger. You can get it at Walmart for around $6.00 and it comes with 2 batteries. Xtra batteries are not that expensive either. I used them in my point and shoot and now in the X500. They just keep going and have saved me a lot of money.

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